Sukegawa Taro, Yamada Yuhei, Maeda Shingo
Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2-12-1 Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8550, Japan.
Living Systems Materialogy Research Group, International Research Frontiers Initiative, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 4259 Nagatsuta-cho, Midori-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 226-8501, Japan.
J Chem Phys. 2024 Mar 14;160(10). doi: 10.1063/5.0193892.
A Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) gel is a unique biomimetic system that undergoes autonomous volume oscillations induced by the redox oscillation of the BZ reaction. In a previous study, researchers reported that the oscillations of two BZ gels coupled by compression were synchronized by a mechanical interaction. They mathematically explained the synchronization behavior using a phase oscillator model. As a different approach to the previous study, a physicochemical investigation of the phenomenon will lead to a better understanding of the functional biological rhythms essential for life. In this study, we construct a simple phenomenological model to understand the synchronization of BZ gels. The model consists of two parts. One is the dynamics of the chemical reactions in the BZ gels. We use a phenomenological model based on the Oregonator for the BZ reaction. The other is the dynamics of the mechanical deformation of the BZ gel. Using approximations, we extract the parameters essential for the synchronization of a mechanical interaction. Thus, we can derive a novel equation for the deformation dynamics of mechanically coupled BZ gels. By combining these two parts, we perform numerical calculations. This allows us to find that the synchronization of the two BZ gels is less likely to occur under stronger compression. We explain this trend through one physicochemical parameter in our model: the volume fraction of the BZ gel in the reduced state.
贝洛索夫-扎博廷斯基（BZ）凝胶是一种独特的仿生系统，它会经历由BZ反应的氧化还原振荡引发的自主体积振荡。在之前的一项研究中，研究人员报告称，通过压缩耦合的两种BZ凝胶的振荡通过机械相互作用实现了同步。他们使用相位振荡器模型从数学上解释了这种同步行为。作为与之前研究不同的方法，对该现象进行物理化学研究将有助于更好地理解生命所必需的功能性生物节律。在本研究中，我们构建了一个简单的唯象模型来理解BZ凝胶的同步。该模型由两部分组成。一部分是BZ凝胶中化学反应的动力学。我们使用基于俄勒冈振子的唯象模型来描述BZ反应。另一部分是BZ凝胶的机械变形动力学。通过近似，我们提取了机械相互作用同步所必需的参数。因此，我们可以推导出一个关于机械耦合BZ凝胶变形动力学的新方程。通过将这两部分结合起来，我们进行了数值计算。这使我们发现，在更强的压缩下，两种BZ凝胶的同步不太可能发生。我们通过模型中的一个物理化学参数来解释这种趋势：处于还原状态的BZ凝胶的体积分数。
